KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Wednesday formed the organising committee for the third SAFF Women’s Championship which will be held in Lahore in November.

MNA Shaista Pervaiz Malik has been appointed chairperson of the committee with Rubina Irfan, the chairperson for PFF’s Women’s Committee, named her deputy for the event which will be held from Nov 1 to 15 at the Punjab Football Stadium.Qitbia Jamshed is the committee secretary.

Pakistan were awarded the right to host the event at the SAFF ExCo meeting in Nepal last year.

“It is a matter of great pride that Pakistan will be hosting the first ever international sporting event for women,” PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat said.

The PFF chief added that an extensive training programme has been chalked out for the national women football team and foreign tours to Bahrain, Qatar and Thailand will be undertaken to provide international exposure to our players.

Shaista Pervaiz added: “I’m honoured to lead the team and will put her earnest efforts to make this event a great success which will portray a positive image of Pakistan to the world.”

At the end of the meeting, the official secretariat for the SAFF Women’s Championship was inaugurated.

India are the defending champions of the event, having won the event on both previous occasions. Pakistan’s best showing at the event was at the inaugural edition in 2010 when the team reached the semi-finals.

Incidentally, it was at the start of 2010 when Pakistan women’s football team made their international debut.